Ki Tisa Recipe – Sauteed Chicory (endive)

Abbie Rosner

Living in the Galilee has given me the opportunity to understand the area’s extraordinarily tenuous balance between the seasons, the elements, and the local foods, both wild and domesticated. By mid-February, if all goes well, the winter rains will have sufficiently soaked the summer-dried earth in order to begin a new agricultural cycle. And now, vast fields are already blanketed with tender green stalks of wheat, which will soak up the rains over the coming months.

Most interesting to me, though, is the welcome appearance of a wealth of edible wild plants on the hills and fields around my home. Chicory, mallow, wild asparagus and wild spinach are my favorites. I learned how to identify and cook these indigenous local varieties from various teachers, mainly friends from nearby Bedouin villages. Every time I gather, cook and enjoy these most healthy and delicious greens, I know I am part of a culinary tradition that goes back to the earliest hunters and gatherers who lived in these parts at the dawn of human civilization. And that is food for thought!

Recipe

Chicory is one of the “bitter herbs” that can be gathered here, whose bitterness is considered to indicate its healthful qualities. My Bedouin friends usually boil the chopped leaves before sautéing them to remove some of the bitterness, but this step can be omitted out of nutritional considerations.

Carefully wash and coarsely chop a bunch of chicory. Immerse the chopped greens in a large pot of boiling water for 5 -10 minutes. Drain well, squeezing out the extra water. In a large pan, heat a generous amount of good olive oil and sauté one chopped onion until translucent and soft. Add the greens to the onion and stir well to make sure that the greens are entirely coated with the oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Abbie Rosner

Abbie Rosner researches and writes about ancient and timeless foodways still being practiced in the Galilee. She is the author of Breaking Bread in Galilee – A Culinary Journey into the Promised Land, and writes a blog: Galilee Seasonality. Abbie is a native of Washington DC and has lived in the Galilee for the past 28 years.